这周，一年一度的“上海书展”开幕了
去逛过上海书展的人，可能都会被书展里名目繁多又价格优惠的书给惊喜到
虽然现在我们越来越少摸到纸质书了，可谁说读书和逛书展就过时了呢？ 这年头，许多人不一天发几条朋友圈就不自在
于是“上海书展”期间，不少魔都盆友也被书展给刷了屏
（出处见水印） 可这也没什么不好啊？晒旅游晒美食晒自拍，为啥就不能晒书呢！ 以下是Global Times (Metro Shanghai)近期刊登的一篇小评论，文末有投票哟，欢迎大家参与！ Shanghai book fair promotes scholarly atmosphere The annual Shanghai Book Fair kicked off Wednesday and will run through August 25. Following its first day, I noticed that the latest round of selfies being shared on WeChat Moments were of adults or their children browsing books or attending events at the Shanghai Exhibition Center, where the book fair is being held. 随着上海书展本周三在上海展览中心拉开帷幕，我的朋友圈里开始了新一轮的自拍
亦或我的成人朋友在参加各种作者见面会，亦或他们的孩子埋头于知识的海洋如海绵一样在吸收知识
Fed up with the hundreds of meaningless selfies I have to scroll through on a daily basis, usually of adult women making cutesy faces, it’s a bit of a relief to see these same people now posing with books. Even though WeChat’s current scholarly atmosphere will probably only last until the end of the fair, it goes to show that Chinese people are in fact still interested in reading something other than social media status updates. 厌倦了朋友圈内各类人士的美图秀秀搔首弄姿以及炫耀性质的美食显摆，这格调高雅的书展自拍如同一股清流在朋友圈内蔓延
即便这个书香氛围只存活于书展期间，我还是要为这些自拍点赞，毕竟大家都还能意识到阅读重要性
The Shanghai municipal government brands this book fair as shuxiang Shanghai, which directly translates as “book fragrance,” which is another word for scholarly or literary. Indeed, the local government spares no expense or effort in continuing to uphold its long literary history. The exhibition center, a landmark building on Yan’an Road Middle in Jing’an district, is no affordable venue; I doubt the fair organizers ever turn a profit by holding the annual exhibition there. But it is a testament to how important our city still takes literature. 上海市政府用“书香上海”来推广每年的书展
我告诉外国朋友，书香两字的中文可是大有讲究，这代表的文化底蕴，这是各地一直希望用来代表自己城市的形象词汇呢
上海在推广书展上也是不遗余力，选址市中心的展览中心就花费不菲，不管是否通过行政手段征用这个场地
想想上次黄晓明和Angelababy就在那里举办了盛大的AH婚礼呢
China’s traditional publishing industry, including brick-and-mortar bookshops, is in fact losing massive market share to online selling platforms and digital channels. This is probably why the Shanghai Book Fair is willing to offer steep discounts of at least 20 percent for the print versions of newly released works. It’s a logical assumption that the profit margin of publishing houses attending the fair is also not very high, but just being present and interacting with readers still offer much-needed exposure. 中国传统的出版业和实体书店在和网上平台竞争中，失去了很多的市场城池
然而能够在上海书展摆上摊位，与读者面对面交流推广新出的产品，出版社还是不遗余力要来占一席之地的
他们对于新书推出至少八折价的优惠，也是蛮拼的，虽然我们可以大胆预测参加这一活动的经济收益不会太高
In Shanghai’s traditional and new media this week, we are seeing a lot of coverage of the book fair, with the government calling on the public to come out and pay a visit to support China’s publishers and authors. A lot of this PR is being spent with tax payers’ money, but I think most local residents can agree that it’s a smart investment and one that will see very high returns, especially in the form of increased children’s literacy. 在上海的传统媒体以及新媒体上，我们能看到市政府也在各种吆喝推广书展
希望市民在酷暑中，能够通过阅读增添一点书香味也为出版社和各有名无名的作者站台
而市民们对于这种大张旗鼓的文化投资，尤其是有助于我们的下一代的书香培养的活动，也是举双手支持的，不会来抱怨说什么这又要花费纳税人的钱
Statistics show that in 2015, the number of books an average Chinese reads annually was just 4.58, a slight increase from 4.56 in 2014. Compared with other countries, China lags far behind in book reading. Especially in these digital times, when most subway commuters are zombified by their smartphones, it’s actually weird to see the occasional person still reading a paper book. Sometimes netizens will post snapshots of such “public book readers” on their accounts along with cheeky captions like “what a good habit,” as if printed books were a new thing. 数据显示2015年中国人的实体书人均阅读量是4.58本，略微高于2014年的4.56本
而这些数据与其他国家比比可谓寒酸得紧这个数字化时代，我们看到通勤的市民都被手机给绑架，不断刷屏
当偶尔看到有人在拿着纸质书阅读时，我们不忍惊呼“wow，这真是个好习惯
”以至于当我们看到公众场所有人专心阅读时，我们像是发现新大陆一样要拍张照发布到朋友圈，咳咳
Every year I encourage my teenaged daughter to visit the Shanghai Book Fair, but I have to entice her to brave the long lines and sweltering summer by giving her an “unlimited budget” to spend on books there. More often than not, however, my husband and I are the only ones who end up reading most of her selections. 每年我会鼓励我的孩子去书展，同时不给她设置预算上限，鼓励她现场做采购
然而加上我和孩子她爸，我们三人每年都不能读完她采购回来的硕果，虽然我们口口声声说要培养阅读好习惯
We Chinese love to decorate our homes and offices with big bookshelves filled with numerous modern and historic literary works, which gives our lives a scholarly atmosphere. But look closely at such bookshelves and you’ll notice that most of the titles have never even been opened. I’ll be the first to admit that, in recent years, much of the time I fall asleep not holding a book in my hand like when I was a youth but while reading my WeChat. 装修时，我们中国人喜欢在办公室和家里布置大大的书橱，同时书橱上有着中外，古代现代经典名著，这使得我们看起来很有“书香气”
然而我第一个要坦诚，最近这些年，睡前陪伴我的只是我的智能手机
我已经不记得何时我还有着睡前读点书的习惯，而年轻时明明这是很习惯性的
I suspect that most of the “book selfies” I have been seeing since the Shanghai Book Fair started are also just like the bookcases in our homes – meant to make people think that we are well-read and spend our time consuming literature – while the reality is that we have all become addicted to our digital devices. 容我恶意揣测，这些“拍书秀”也诚如我们的家中的书柜一样
这仅仅使得我们看起来有书香气，是好学而向上的
而真正残酷的现实是，我们做不了书的主人，却还是数码产品的奴隶
But as long as the Shanghai Book Fair continues to be an annual event in our city, I’ll continue to buy more books than I actually read, and continue to decorate my home with them, as a testament to my deep sincere desire to someday throw away my smartphone and return to being a well-read person. 然而只要上海书展还是一个城市的年度盛事，我们还是会买着很多好书，哪怕我们根本静不下心来读他们
用他们来装点我们的橱柜，这像是我们有着强烈阅读愿望的一个佐证：或许有天我们真的能抛弃我们的手机而回归成一个真正“悦读”的文化人
原文/翻译：Xi Xi 图：Chen Xia、上海热线 更多精彩讯息，请关注环球时报英文版： twitter: @globaltimesnews facebook: @Global Times